Fanfic / My Little Pony Nine Elements

My Little Pony Nine Elements is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a fanfic written by BlueBioWolf which functions as a retelling of the show.

This retelling both serves as a Fix Fic of some sorts and also adds in three elements of harmony and gives Spike a bigger role in episodes than canon.

Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 have been released so far.

A special story set in this story's universe has been released called "My Little Wizard of Oz" which takes place after the events of "The Ending of the End" and the present day scenes in "The Last Problem" and features the Guardians of Harmony getting transported to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and having to go through the book in order to get back home.

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My Little Pony Nine Elements provides examples of:

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: According to Stephen Magnus, the scale he gifts them is sharp enough to cut stone (and glows in the dark). Spike later fashions a sword out of it.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: Trixie gets this in "Boast Busters" where after she fixes the damage the Ursa Minor caused to town, the Mane 6 fix up her wagon and give her some extra food before she leaves Ponyville.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Spike faces this here with him having to deal with discrimination from Canterlot ponies (outside Princess Cadance, Twilight's family, and her Canterlot friends) for being a dragon which is shown to hurt him.
  • While Discord is never given a Freudian Excuse in canon for his antagonistic ways initially, here he is shown to be been close friends with Celestia and Luna a thousand years prior to the show's start and was a lot more harmless in his chaotic antics until the Fantastic Racism he faced drove him to make his chaotic antics more dangerous until they turned him to stone.
• Adaptational Badass: Spike takes a more active role in The Mane Six's adventures from the beginning, and is a lot more assertive with the ponies than in canon. Even willing to call out Rarity when she does something wrong.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Shining Armor is introduced during the events of the pilot here, appearing both in Canterlot and during The Summer Sun Celebration.
  • Scootaloo's Aunts, Lofty and Holiday, are introduced in chapter five of the first book. As opposed to the show, where they were not introduced till season nine.
  • Pinkie's sisters, Limestone, Marble, and Maud, as well as her parents are introduced and given a prominent role in Pinkie's flashback in "Swarm of The Century" in season one. While in the series, Maud wasn't even revealed to exist until season four, where she got her own episode. And the others would have a smaller role in Pinkie's flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" later in season one, but weren't named or given any lines until season five.
  • Applejack and her siblings' parents, Bright Mac and Pear Butter/"Buttercup" are introduced in her flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", escorting their daughter to the train station. Where as in the show, we don't meet them until season seven.
  • Flash Sentry makes his debut in the book one, during "Sonic Rainboom".
  • Thorax appears in A Canterlot Wedding, acting as a guard for Cadance in the caves before joining her and Twilight. In the show, he didn’t appear until Season 6.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The characters' ages are elaborated on more than canon with the starting ages when the show begins for the major characters being Applejack and Sunset are 18, Rainbow Dash is 17, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Trixie are 16, Pinkie and Starlight are 15, Spike is 10 (in pony years), Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are 8, Sweetie Belle is 7, Princess Celestia is 2,028, and Princess Luna is 2,023.
    • The supporting characters' ages when the show starts are touched upon also with Granny Smith being in her 50s/60s, Big Mac and Shinning Armor are in their 20s, Pinkie and Fluttershy's parents are in their 30s/40s, Gilda and Maud are 17, Limestone is 18, Marble is 15, and Pipsqueak is 6 (when first introduced in season 2).
  • Sunset's life in Equestria before leaving for the human world is elaborated in "A Bird in the Hoof" where she was bullied by the students in magic school which would play a part in her deciding to run away to the human world.
  • Equestria's history is given more detail with the first talking ponies of Equestria, Amalthea and Pegasus, initially being from Earth and hidden from outsiders until an evil troll showed up and fatally injured them. Megan Williams (the same one from G1) would nurse the two back to health and study them (provided she keeps it between her and her siblings). After freeing the other mythological creatures, Amalthea would create a new world for her, Pegasus, Megan (brought to help the ponies take care of themselves as long as there was a way back to Earth), and the other mythological creatures and ponies to live in (initially named Ponyworld until the founding of Equestria shown in "Heart's Warming Eve"). The first immortal alicorns would be a result of unicorn Amalthea and Pegasus mating (with breeding between immortals later being forbidden to avoid overpopulation) while the first non-immortal Equestrian unicorns would be from Amalthea mating with various Earth pony stallions.
  • Fluttershy off handedly mentions Ponyville’s former librarian, Miss Novel, moved to Baltimare a week before Twilight showed up. While the series itself never established who operated Golden Oak Library before Twilight arrived and took it over.
  • Fluttershy's ability to communicate with animals as well as her “Stare” in the original series were just kind of things she could do that was unique to her, with the former just being treated as part of natural talent with animals and the latter not given any real explanation. Here, “critter whisperers” and “mystic eyes” are both larger phenomena within Equestria, with more ponies than her possessing these abilities. Infact, Rarity and Applejack both have their own magic eye based abilities that give Rarity heightened perception and make Applejack a Living Lie Detector. Though critter whisperers are apparently not only rare, finding a pegasus critter whisperer is apparently especially rare, due to them often living in the clouds.
  • The story also elaborates on how some of the various members of the extended apple family we meet in the show are related to each other: The Orange family in Manehattan is related to the Apples in Ponyville through Bright Mac's sister, Citrus, who married into them. The Apples' cousins, Braeburn, Sunflower, and Babs Seed are siblings and the children of Citrus and her husband.
• Adaptational Intelligence:
  • Rainbow Dash manages to see right through the "Shadow Bolt" illusion during her trial in the Everfree, after seeing "Spitfire" control the mists with her glowing eyes to shroud her friends. Which Rainbow immediately realizes isn't normal.
  • Downplayed with Snips and Snails. Instead intentionally looking for an Ursa Major for Trixie to vanquish, they accidentally stumble onto it after getting lost and seeking shelter in its cave.
  • The Cockatrice that was presented as a non-sapient monster in canon, is capable of speech in this story.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Diamond Tiara's (and by extension Silver Spoon's) bullying of Applebloom in "Call of The Cities" is even worse than in canon. As instead of just picking on her for her blank flank, she also openly calls Applebloom and her family "inbred hicks". Even when Applejack is in earshot. (Though the text notes that it was unclear if Diamond didn't know or just didn't care that Applejack was near by.)
  • On top of being the Prince Charmless he was in canon, Blueblood goes on a racist tirade and assaults Spike infront of everypony, just for accidently bumping into him at the gala.
• Adaptational Karma: Snips and Snails are forced to do community service supervised by their older brother Puppy Dog Tails in "Boast Busters" for recklessly attracting an Ursa Minor to Ponyville.
• Adaptational Nice Girl:
  • Pony Sunset gets this, already being friendlier before she left for the human world (which was due to bullying from other students in magic school rather than a fall out with Celestia over wanting to become an alicorn after seeing the mirror) with her Alpha Bitch traits from the first Equestria Girls movie (and subsequent Heel–Face Turn arc in later films) being transferred to her human counterpart instead.
  • Trixie also has this in "Boast Busters" where she makes an effort to fix the damage to Ponyville caused by the Ursa Minor and parts with Twilight on better terms rather than developing a grudge against her. She's also nicer to Snips and Snails, even reluctantly agreeing to give them a secret magic lesson later after learning their parents haven't gotten around to teaching them themselves, but are too stubborn to let them try learning from somepony else.
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • Trixie went to magic school with Twilight in this story, though she ended up being expelled.
  • Razer (the unnamed red dragon from “Dragonshy”) had no direct connection with any character in the original. Here, it's revealed that Princess Celestia knows him personally from past ventures into The Badlands. As Twilight elaborates while recounting her communication with the princess about the “smoke situation”.
• Adaptational Sexuality: While Rainbow Dash's sexuality was never outright confirmed in canon, here she is outright confirmed as bisexual. Similarly, Sci-Twi (who was only romantically involved with Timber Spruce in canon) is indicated as either bisexual or lesbian with her Ship Tease with Human Sunset in this version.
• Adapted Out: It has been confirmed that episodes like Ponyville Confidential and Bats! will not be remade
• Ascended Extra:
  • Spike here plays bigger roles in various episodes than he does in canon.
  • Caramel goes from being a background character to being a major supporting character.
  • Word of God confirms Starlight, Trixie, and Sunset will also be Elements of Harmony wielders and become part of the main cast later on in the story (Sunset being confirmed to join main cast in season 4).
  • Due to "Fall Weather Friends" being reworked into a flashback episode taking place before Twilight's arrival, Mayor Mare takes over her role in the episode's plot.
  • Applejack's Aunt Citrus Orange is a downplayed example in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", as she still only appears in Applejack's brief flashback. But she's also given a bit more backstory and depth. Revealing that she was Bright Mac's sister and was from Sweet Apple Acres too, but like Applejack when she was a filly, chose to leave it behind for the high society life in Manehattan. And she actively pushes for Applejack to conform to the culture there, partially because she's insecure about her own rural roots.
• Badass Decay: After casually blasting aside Celestia's royal guards, Nightmare Moon comments with some disappointment that they were at least able to give her ‘’a little’’ trouble a thousand years ago.
• Berserk Button:
  • For Spike, outers being subject to bigotry (justified as he knows what being on the receiving end is like). For the Mane 6, Spike being insulted or otherwise harmed with them nearby.
  • Spike also does not like being woken up while he's still tired, and often chews out anypony that does so.
  “If you’re looking for a good time, don’t. Wake. A sleeping. Dragon.”
• Body Pocket: Spike and the ponies learn dragons can hide stuff within their scales like this, after seeing Razer pack up his hoard. Spike later makes use of this himself.
• Brick Joke: In "Call of The Cuties", Rainbow Dash tells Applebloom that Applejack couldn't do math if it didn't involve apple seeds. At which point, we cut to Applejack getting a sudden urge to kick Rainbow's flank while on the farm. After the following montage of Rainbow's attempts to help Applebloom get her cutie mark, Applejack does indeed walk up to Rainbow to give her a kick in the flank.
• Call-Forward: Big Mac references the events of the future flashback episode “Apple Lies” while arguing with Applejack at the beginning of “Apple Bucking Season”:
  Big Mac: “Last time ya tried bitin’ off more n’ ya can chew, it got us in hot water with Granny Smith at the hospital.”
• The Cameo: In "Call of The Cities", Ash, the calf introduced in the previous chapter, appears alongside Spike, trying to help Applebloom win her "roller durby cutie mark". Before disappearing afterwards.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Puppy Dog Tails, Snips and Snail's exacerbated brother.
  • Instead of the Cakes just having their twins, the pegasus and unicorn, Pound and Pumpkin Cake, they have triplets with the addition of an earth pony they name Velvet Cake.
  • The ending of "Griffon The Brush Off" introduces us to Canus Moonstone, Princess Luna's sentient wolf plushie.
  • "Look Before You Sleep" introduces us to Bundt Cake, Carrot Cake's sister and Cup Cakes sister-in-law.
  • "Fall Weather Friends" introduces us to Ash, a calf and son of Daisy Jo the Cow. Who takes over Spike's role during "The Iron Pony" competition. As well as giving us our first formal introduction to Miss Novel, Ponyville's librarian before Twilight arrived.
  • "A Dog and Ponyville Show" introduces Bluu, a token heroic diamond dog who helps Spike and Rarity escape from the other diamond dogs.
• Canon Welding: This fanfic has G1 and G4 having happened in the same universe, with the events of G1 occurring thousands of years before the events of the series happened.
• Clone Army: In "A Bird in the Hoof", Shining Armor reveals that most of the rank in file guards are actually just clones of the original royal guard, hence their very uniform appearance. Apparently because very few ponies are born with their destiny being to join the guard.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Spike is severely discriminated by the Canterlot elites for being a dragon, to the point one of Celestia's examinators suggested to kill him after he was born.
  • Pipsqueak is smaller than ponies of his age because his fanatically religious father frequently denied him of food for a month.
  • Discord's "storm of chaos" on Ponyville led to at least one casualty and at least one pony being permanently mentally damaged.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Twilight and Spike in "Fall Weather Friends". As the episode is reworked to be a flashback episode from before they came to Ponyville, Twilight's role in the Running of The Leaves is taken by Mayor Mare and Spike's role in the Iron Pony Competition is taken by Ash.
  • Twilight's role as the pony that gets turned to stone by the cockatrice in "Stare Master", is taken by a background pony named Shoe Shine.
• Dream Deception: Halfheartedly attempted by Rainbow Dash, after Spike walks in on her reading while breaking into his and Twilight's home/library.
  Rainbow Dash: “Uh… Would you believe this is a dream you’re having?”
  Spike: “No. Because my dreams don’t involve pegasi breaking and entering the library and reading out loud when a pony and a dragon are trying to sleep!”
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Trixie still humiliates Applejack and Rainbow Dash on stage, but in this version she doesn't do anything that would physically hurt Rainbow, just leave her dizzy. And even helps her back up to her hooves afterwards.
  • When Rainbow Dash invokes Jabba Table Manners to disgust her friends into leaving her alone, Applejack, an occasionally sloppy eater herself is just as disgusted as Rarity. She even gets self conscious about her own eating habits and has to be assured by Rarity she's not ‘’that’’ bad.
  Applejack: “Now ah see why yer askin’ me fer fancier dinin’, Rarity.”
• Exact Words: In “Boast Busters”, when Trixie challenges Twilight, the latter's response is “Uh, no, thank you. I think the audience would already know who would win and that wouldn't be very exciting.” Which Trixie takes as an admittance of defeat, but others would recognize as her subtlety saying she would win without provoking Trixie.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Spike faced a lot of this for being a dragon during his time in Canterlot. To the point he was largely confined to his and Twilight's home for ‘’years’’. And even Twilight had to deal with a lot of judgment at a young age, just for raising him. He's genuinely surprised and touched at how much more accepting his and Twilight's new friends in Ponyville are of him.
  Spike: “Wait, are you calling ME charming?”
  Rarity: “You seem surprised, darling.”
  Spike: “Usually, I’m called stuff like ‘overgrown lizard,’ ‘beastly,’ ‘ghastly,’ or ‘scale-ridden freak.’”
  • “The Ticket Master” reveals he had tried to go to The Grand Galloping Gala with Shining Armor three times in the past, but the guards refused to let him through the door and even threatened to have him thrown in the dungeons the last time till Shining Armor stopped them Apparently there was still an old law on the books Celestia overlooked, that said ‘’only’’ ponies can attend the gala. This is rectified by her after she's informed of it and she sends Spike a VIP pass to the gala, as well as telling him to inform her or Luna if the guards give him any more trouble.
  • He also admits that despite his crush on Rarity, he's kind of intimidated by her upper class accent. Because it reminds him of the elitist Canterlot unicorns.
• Fighting from the Inside: Between The Mane Six's trials in the Everfree, we get to see Nightmare Moon's internal monologue, which clearly shows Princess Luna still in there, pleading with her darker half.
• Fix Fic: While not the series main stated goal, it does have elements of this:
  • Instead of being the Butt-Monkey of the cast, frequently left out of the Mane Six's adventures, and often treated as glorified servant when he is around, despite his potential as a character, Spike is treated as a respected member of the team and isn't afraid to stand up for himself and what he thinks is right, even to his close friends. Twilight and the others also show more care for his personal safety than they often did in season one. The story also shows Spike spending more time with children around his age, even become an honorary member of The Cutie Mark Crusaders in "Stare Master", as well as addressing why he is not sent to school with the other children; The private education he got in Canterlot already puts him well above Ponyville's local academic standards.
  • It's clarified that knowledge about The Elements of Harmony and The Mane Six’s status as their welders is not public knowledge during book one. Explaining why they don't get much in the way of public recognition for their heroics.
  • ''The Mare in The Moon":
    • Rarity's attempts to “help” Twilight clean up during the events of the pilot, are less forceful and unwanted, and her and Twilight's first conversation is genuinely cordial on both ends.
  • "The Elements of Harmony":
    • Applejack tells Twilight Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash will catch her, instead of just telling her to let go with no explanation for how she'll survive.
  • "Applebuck Season": Pinkie Pie notices the muffins she and Applejack made seem off, so she decides to give them a taste test before serving them to the customers. This results in her putting herself in the hospital, but it doesn't turn into an epidemic.
  • “Boast Busters”:
    • Most of the adult ponies in Ponyville are unimpressed by Trixie, some even calling her Ursa Major story a “load of manure”, and it's mostly the young ones that buy into her hype.
    • Instead of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all being hostile towards Trixie from the start, only Rainbow Dash is and she's called out for her hypocrisy by the others. Rarity seems neutral towards the showmare and ultimately doesn't go through with challenging her at all. While Applejack show's some annoyance at how much she talks, but says she seems alright at first and doesn't want to start anything. And only steps up to challenge Trixie, after being called on as a volunteer.
    • Snips and Snails finding an Ursa and luring it to town was an accident here, and not something they meant to do.
    • And at the end of the episode, Trixie patches things up with Ponyville and The Mane Six in the end, who in response, repair her cart for her.
  • “Dragonshy”:
    • Applejack questions why Celestia’s sending them instead of her guards to deal with a dragon. And Twilight explains that Celestia knows Razer (the dragon) isn't causing the smoke on purpose, so they agreed that Twilight and company will go to try and solve the issue peacefully.
    • Rainbow Dash is still critical of Fluttershy coming along and doesn't sugar coat it. But it seems less out of frustration with her and more out of genuine worry for her friend. And she attempts to talk to Fluttershy in private first and convince her not to come, instead of just trying to convince Twilight not to bring her.
    • They bring Spike along too, realizing having another dragon present might come in handy.
    • Fluttershy's status as The Load up until her big moment at the end in this episode is de-emphasized by emphasizing her role as The Medic and also having Twilight use her magic to help carry Fluttershy part of the way, so they aren't slowed down by her as much.
    • Not a fix for anything in the episode itself, but it also addresses Rarity using Spike as labor in her future gem hunts (As seen in “A Dog and Pony Show”) after learning he's never been before while on their journey here. By having her ask for Twilight's permission first, promising to compensate him fairly, and seemingly wanting to take him just as much for his enjoyment as hers.
  • It's made clear that Razer/the red dragon did take his hoard with him after agreeing to leave, which wasn't made clear in the original episode.
  • "Bridle Gossip": The double standard of Ponyville embracing Spike, a dragon, but not even giving Zecora, a zebra, a chance, is pointed out and used to help The Mane Six decide to try befriending Zecora early on. And the episode only isn't cut short there, because the effects of the Poison Joke they stumble into are much more immediate in this version, causing them to panic and flee the forest, before they could think of pursuing Zecora any further.
  • "Swarm of The Century": Pinkie explains what the parasprites are, the danger they pose, and how she plans to deal with them immediately.
  • "Call of The Cuties":
    • Cherilee steps in to scold Diamond Tiara while she's heckling Applebloom outside the school.
    • It's revealed that Ponyville's school house does have more than one class. Helping to explain how Applebloom didn't know Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and that she wasn't the only blank flank still around, prior to them meeting at the end of this episode. Also, the fic explains away the trio huddling together in fear during the pilot, despite apparently not formerly meeting until this episode, as them just clinging to the pony nearest to them in the heat of the moment. Which they call back to in this chapter.
    • Applebloom and Twist also reconcile at the end of this episode, instead of the latter seemingly being forgotten by the former.
  • "A Bird in the Hoof": Celestia explains that Philomena is a phoenix about pass on from her current life and be reborn from the start. And Fluttershy asks her permission before trying to take care of her. (Here just to ease the process, instead of trying to "save" her.)
  • "The Cutie Mark Chronicles":
    • Scootaloo's attitude is tweaked so she's not so single mindedly obsessed with hearing Rainbow Dash's story.
    • The fact that the day most of The Mane Six got their cutie marks (Pinkie's was the next day, after getting the inspiration she needed the day before), is also Spike's birthday is acknowledged.
    • It's clarified that hatching Spike's egg was a test to see how students responded to an impossible test, not something they were all expected to pull off. And Twilight was already going to be accepted into Celestia's School, even before she successfully passed an impossible test.
  • “Read It and Weep”: Rainbow Dash dismisses the idea of breaking into the hospital to steal their copy of “Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue” like she did in canon. Sighting commiting a crime like that could go on her permanent record and damage her chances of getting into The Wonderbolts. Instead, she decides to sneak into Twilight's library to take the library’s copy. Rationalizing that it wouldn't be any different than a pony checking out a book normally.
• Forgetful Jones: Caramel is revealed to have issues with short term memory in "Griffon The Brush Off" and later episodes show it as a regular hindrance for him, to the point he has trouble helping Applejack on the farm and can't even remember how he got his own Cutie Mark. Apparently one of the reasons he and Applejack are together, is because she's one of few ponies that can handle it.
  Applejack: “Ah love that stallion. But, we all know he’d forget his head if’n it weren’t attached.”
• Freudian Excuse:
  • On top of the regular reasons anypony would be scared of an adult dragon she gave in the actual episode, Fluttershy reveals she was almost swallowed by one as a filly after entering what she thought was a cave…
  • The Cockatrice is presented as a sapient creature in this story, that was rejected by society and driven out into the forest.
• Healing Potion: It's offhandedly mentioned that Rainbow Dash’s food came with these during her physical recovery in “Read It and Weep”, helping to explain her faster than expected recovery.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Ponies use the term “breezie tale” over fairy tale.
• Honorary Aunt: As an extension of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Cake as a second pair of parents, Pinkie Pie also call Carrot Cake's sister, Bundt Cake, "Auntie Bundt Cake".
• Identical Grandson: Pinkie's Granny Pie is revealed to look like an elderly version of Pinkie Pie herself. And even shared her ability to play several instruments at once (which Pinkie may have very well learned from her) and is considered an eccentric as well.
• Improvised Weapon: Spike makes a homemade sword out of the sea serpent scale they got from Stephen Magnet, some sticks, and some duct tape.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Pinkie Pie gasps and bolts off upon seeing Twilight and Spike, Spike assumes it's because he's a dragon and is rather indignant about it. At least till he and Twilight meet Rarity, who explains that Pinkie's just very eccentric and didn't mean any offense. Though he's still suspicious of her when they meet again at the library, where she can clear it up herself.
  Pinkie Pie: “Oh, you cute little silly willy. That wasn't my ‘there's a scary dangerous monster’ gasp. That was my, ‘There are new folks in Ponyville and I have to throw a party for them so they can make friends here’ gasp.”
• Just One Extra Ticket: Averted in this story's version of “The Ticket Master”. As Celestia sends two tickets for each of the mane six (and later a VIP pass for Spike), so not only can they all go, they can all choose a plus one to invite with them.
• Lethal Chef: Sweetie Bell’s cooking skills are no better than they were shown in canon, but according to her mother, Cookie Crumbles, she was even worse than her daughter at that age. While Sweetie somehow managed to burn juice, her mother apparently managed to burn a milkshake.
• Living Lie Detector: Applejack's "Mystical Eyes o' Truth" give her this ability.
• Magical Eye: Mystic Eye powers are a thing in this version of Equestria:
  • Fluttershy's “Stare” is revealed to be one of these, called “The Mystic Eyes of Submission”.
  • Rarity has her own magical eye powers, called “Mystic Eyes of Detail” which gives her a heightened sense of perception. Though they apparently work better with things she's viewing from a distance. Hence why she still uses her work glasses when looking at things up close.
  • Applejack has "Mystical Eyes of Truth", which makes her a Living Lie Detector.
  • Zecora has "Mystical Eyes of Intuition", which allows her to see the inner character of ponies. Which is why she's so forgiving to The Mane Six in "Bridal Gossip", as she could tell despite their initial unwarranted distrust of her, they were good ponies at heart.
• Mirror Character: Applejack's Aunt Citrus Orange, as revealed in her flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", was this to her niece as a filly; she also grew up on the farm, but left it behind for the big city of Manehattan and learned to hide her rural roots to blend in with high society life and out of her own insecurities. Just like Applejack was on the road to doing in her flashback. But unlike Citrus, who stayed in Manehattan and built a life there, Applejack quickly realized her place was back at Sweet Apple Acres and went back home.
• Misery Builds Character: In "Griffin The Brush Off", when Pinkie tries to dissuade Rainbow Dash from targeting Flutters in their pranking spree, Rainbow admits that she often played pranks on Fluttershy when they were fillies, despite knowing she didn't react well to it and being her friend. Justifying it to herself as trying to help Fluttershy "toughen up". Though Pinkie's tells her that it was more like "knocking her down" and convinces her they shouldn't go through with pranking her by comparing Rainbow to the bullies Rainbow Dash herself defended Fluttershy from.
• Mythology Gag:
  • It's mentioned in chapter one that Filthy Rich is thinking of changing his name to Berry, which it apparently is on certain merchandise.
  • Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet, is the editor for the Daring Do series. A clear nod to the now Jossed Fanon that she was the books’ author.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The unnamed red dragon in “Dragonshy” is given the name Razer, the same he was given in ‘’Tails of Equestria’’.
  • The unnamed mule that appears in season one is dubbed Marty the Mule.
  • The unnamed Battleship knockoff seen in “Read It and Weep” is given the name “Vast Sky” in this story.
• Necessary Drawback: Fluttershy' Mystical Eyes of Submission/"Stare", while effective, not only requires her to maintain constant eye contact with who or whatever she's using it on without blinking, but it also quickly causes intense and painful eye strain that can cause temporary blindness and potentially serious and lasting eye damage if she overexerts it. So much so, that Word of God is that one of the reasons "Bats" will not be adapted, is because they can't see Twilight making a plan around Fluttershy using her Stare, knowing how painful and potentially dangerous it is for her in this story.
• Not in Front of the Kid: During her story in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", Fluttershy clarifies that the words Dumbbell said to Rainbow Dash before their race, were less kid friendly than the version of it she's recounting to the kids.
• Official Couple: Applejack and Caramel are this by the time the series starts in this version.
• The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Rainbow Dash reluctantly admits Trixie has style, after seeing her firework show.
• Playing Sick: Rainbow Dash tries this to act like her wings acting up to get back into the hospital and finish her book. Giving an audible “Ouch!” when Doctor Horse touches her wing… before he tells her it was her ‘’good’’ wing he touched.
  “I think I know what the trouble is; a pseudo-condition known as lazy-itis.”
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: On "Applebuck Season" Twilight, Spike, and Caramel all tell Applejack “You. Need. Help.” in unison.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Spike delivers these whenever his friends upset him by making huge mistakes.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation:
  • Twilight and Spike have a relationship more akin to mother and son than in canon as of chapter 24, which makes sense with her hatching him in the first place.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Snips and Snails are brothers in this story, whereas in canon, they aren't explicitly stated to be more than close friends.
  • Bon Bon and Twist are sisters in this story, too.
• Rhymes on a Dime: On top of Zecora from the original series, Pinkie's Granny Pie is shown doing this during her introduction.
• Ship Tease: Spike/Rarity and Sweetie Belle/Button Mash are given this throughout the story with Word of God confirming that Twilight/Flash, Starlight/Sunburst, Human Sunset/Sci-Twi, Dog Spike/Winona, Discord/Celestia, and Spitfire/Soarin will get this later on in addition to the already official canon ships.
• Shout-Out: Whomping Willow Trees are counted among the threats that live in The Everfree Forest.
• Straight Man: Puppy Dog Tails is this to his brothers, Snips and Snails. And often scolds them for their idiocy.
• Stuck in the Doorway: This happens to Applejack when she tries to enter the CMC's clubhouse, while not realizing she'd long out grown the entrance from when she was a filly.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Lampshaded by Spike and called by name by Twilight, after Rainbow Dash hastily and suspiciously shews him, Twilight, and Scootaloo out of her hospital room during “Reed It and Weep”. He points out that she immediately brought up and denied being interested in “Daring Do” after Twilight just happened to say the word “do”.
  Spike: You don't think…
  Twilight: That ‘’was’’ suspiciously specific denial.
• Theme Naming: Discussed by Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, when it's noted all but one of the nurses staffing Ponyville Hospital have “heart” in their name.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Discussed In the Return Of Harmony arc where Discord wants too understand how Spike can trust the ponies in spite of the severe racism he has endured, Spike then answers by pointing that Discord's own actions would make the ponies hate him even more.
  Spike: [to Discord] Despite everything you’ve done or continue to do, I feel sorry for you. Show me a creature that goes along with the stereotypes he’s labeled with, I’ll show you a creature that’s run out of good ideas.
• Thinking Out Loud: Lampshaded by Rainbow Dash, after she details her plan to get her book back to herself out loud.
  Rainbow Dash: “I should probably stop talking to myself so much.”
• The Tooth Hurts: Spike mentions breaking his teeth trying to bite into a diamond once, which had to be magically fixed by Celestia.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: Heavily implied between Thunderlane and twin sisters, Flitter and Cloudchaser, as both the latter show interest in the former. The twins even both give him a peck on the cheek after he demonstrates his wing power during the events of “Hurricane Fluttershy”. Them being in a polyamorous relationship is confirmed in the author's notes.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Limestone Pie causes the parasprite outbreak on The Pie Family Farm, much like Fluttershy did in Ponyville, both in the fic and in canon.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The other Mane 6 deliver one to Twilight over her treatment of Spike in the adaptation of "Owl's Well That Ends Well", giving her a verbal beatdown and making her clean the library on her own.
• Whole Episode Flashback:
  • "Swarm of The Century" is reworked so most the episode is taken up by a flashback to when Pinkie Pie and her family first encountered the parasprites and learned how to deal with them.
  • "Fall Weather Friends" is also reworked into a flashback episode, with most of the episode's events taking place the year before Twilight and Spike arrived.